2012 Goals...Collecting-wise

Hey Everyone,

First off, I'd like to wish everyone a Happy belated New Year. I hope everyone had a safe and happy holidays. The month of December was crazy busy for this sexy geek, which explains the lack of postage from me. So, my list of 2012 Collecting goals are a bit late, but here they are nonetheless:

1-Card Collecting goals:

My card collection has gotten a bit out of hand. I have boxes upon boxes of unorganized madness, so I have decided a couple of things:

A-Concentrate On The Team Sets.

First and Foremost, I want to try to have as many complete Topps teams sets as possible, especially with my Yankees and Jets collections. My Yankees team sets are as complete as you can get from 1972 on. I might be missing a card here and a card there, but those sets are pretty complete. For the Yanks, I would like to concentrate on the years I'm missing. Of course, there will be cards I won't be able to pick up, like a Mantle or Berra or Ford or Maris, as my budget will be tighter this year, so unless I get a steal or a well loved card, my sets will be missing those key players for a while.

As far as the Jets go, this should be an easier task. Namath is really the only big name player in any older set and I can live without a Namath in my sets. My Jets team sets are nowhere as complete as my Yankees are, so persuing those sets are one of my top goals.

B-Forgo Game Used Cards.

I can't begin to tell you how much I have spent in the past on a blah game used card. I decided that unless the card is too good to pass or it's an awesome patch card, I will not be picking up a lot of game used this year.

C-Inserts, Inserts, Inserts.

I love these cards, especially inserts from the 90's sets. I am building binders full of these beautiful cards and will continue to do so in 2012.

2-Get Back Into Autographing:

The last year or two, my TTM'ing has gone down significantly. My thoughts were, why take the time and effort to find/make a card, write a letter and wait x amount of days for it to possibly return signed when I can just go on ebay and buy it, certified.

Well, my budget has dictated that if I want to continue to collect autographs, I'm going to have to go a cheaper route and that is TTM's or free signings. I have a lot of cards that I could put into use instead of them just sitting in a shoe box marked doubles. Time to whip out the pen and buy a roll of forever stamps.

Plus, there are projects I want to start. I'd like to go after wrestlers TTM, or try and put together a signed set of cards from a couple of my favorite teams, like the 1996 Yankees or work on a multi signed 8x10.

3-Read The Older Comics:

In 2011, I bought and read the Marvel Essentials Vol. 1's of Iron Man and The Avengers. Obviously, buying vol 2's are in order. I have also been collecting the Essential Amazing Spider-Man and reading those. I think I am at Vol 4, so I need to get the others this year.

I also would like to pick up the Essential Captain America, Hulk and Fantastic Four at some point. Since I got a Kindle Fire for Christmas, if I can get those digitally, even better.

4-Continue My Spider-Man/Batman Collections:

2011 saw me reembrace my inner geek when I started to pick up pieces here and there. I was buying figures, comics, t-shirts. Pretty much, anything I could get my hands on, I got. There was, and still is a limit to what I would get. I didn't want to buy a Polar Suit Spidey, complete with whale skin winter jacket or an Aqua Dive Batman, with green camo suit and bubble helmet. Nope. If the figure didn't come in the actual outfit, I wasn't buying it. I also did not really pick up any figures of the rouges gallery for Spidey or Bats, although I do have a few cool Venom's, Goblin's and Joker's in the collection. That might change this year, depending on space.

I do have certain things I'd like to pick up or continue to collect. I made some progress in my goal of collecting as many Amazing Spider-Man comics, issues 1-200, as well as Peter Parker: The Spectacular Spider-Man. I'd like to continue hunting down isses I need in 2012. I would like to start a Batman or Dectective Comics collection as well. Reason I have not started a Batman comic collection is $$$. Most of the older Batman comics are way out of my price range. But, the more I think about, with my Spider-Man comics, if the condition is decent or I can get a great deal, why not start Batman?

Figure-wise, I would love, love, love to grab the Hot Toys Spidey or Batman figures, especially the Michael Keaton one. Looking forward to the Captain Action Spidey re-release as well. I also need to go back and pick up some figures I am missing as well, so more comic shows, toy shows, flea markets and thrift store visits for me in 2012.

5-Fill other Holes/Start Other Collections:

I haven't really added to my Beatles, KISS, Back To The Future, Monkees collections in a while. There are things that I would love to grab, like the KISS: Alive box set or the Beatles Cartoon Series box set. I have been looking for decent prices on these, but I might have to suck it up and pay the prices I have seen on ebay/conventions if I really want them in my collections. I am also looking forward to Mattel's Back To The Future line coming out this year. I haven't heard or seen anything about them, so I hope the set hasn't been cancelled. If so, I will just grab the delorans I have seen or rebuy the BTTF Part 2 card set I used to have.

Been wanting to start a Avengers/Justice League figure set as well. I love the Classic Avengers box set I have seen and I'm kinda kicking myself for not grabbing it when I first seen it. I am just not thrilled with the 3 3/4 size of the figures, as well as the Marvel Universe figures. I had heard that the Marvel figures will be back to the 6" to 8" scale we have known and loved before, so I should be happy with that.

I would also love to pick up the Christopher Reeves/Michael Keaton/Linda Carter statues I have been seeing as well.

6-Have fun.

That, my friends, is what collecting is all about. I had a blast with it in 2011 and 2012 will be no diffrent for me. That, is a promise.

New Yankee Card pick up

Just to remind you all that I do still collect my Yankees, I just got this beauty in the mail. An ebay purchase, it is a 1998 Circa Boss Insert I needed for the Yankees PC.

This card is everything I love about inserts. The graphics, the colors and it's a Yankee.

Jeter has become even more expensive (If you can believe that!) since he joined the 3,000 hit club, but I was able to grab this one for a steal at 1.99, plus free shipping.

Now, I just have to put this bad boy with the rest of the 1998 Circa cards I have. That will be a task and a half. I still have piles of cards to put into binders. Anyone have any tricks of how you organize your cards?

New Have List Added

I just wanted to post up a quick blog to bring your attention to a new page I have at the bottom of my blog. I posted my Mark Teixeira Have List. I'm always looking for trades to add to the Teixeira PC. At your leisure, please peruse it and if there is anything you might have that I need, please give me a shout and maybe we can work something out.

It took me all evening (save a half an hour at 11:30pm to watch Batman on HUB) to type up the list and then another 15 minutes for me to figure out who the heck I managed to put up the Broduer Have List before. That reminds me, I need to update that list too. Between work, gym and life, been a bit too busy to do that.

Yawn, gonna hit the sack. Good night everyone.

2011 Is Just Around The Corner...

With the calender just about to turn it's pages into a new year, this is the time to reflect on another year passed and anticipate the possibilites of a brand new year. A clean slate to start fresh and accomplish goals everyone sets for themselves at the start of the new year.

I have goals. Both personal and hobby related. For the sake of this blog (and not to bore any of you readers out there), I will just keepit to hobby related. I made a list of goals that are obtainable and realistic for me to accomplish. I mean, Icould be bold and say I want to add a Lou Gehrig cut auto to put next to the one of Babe Ruth that I already have, but it's not realistic. Therefore, here are the realistic goals I'm setting, hobbywise, for 2011:

1-Add to my growing bobblehead collection.
I started seriously collecting bobbleheads in the early stages of 2010 when I picked up three Forever bobbleheads up at the Westchester County Baseball Card Show. I snagged a Ford, Rizzuto and Jeter bobbles. It started me on a quest to add more nodders to the three I had already bought. Now, my collection stands at 50 and I want more. There are some elusive bobbles I have bid on and lost on ebay, like the AGP SGA bobbles the Yankees and Columbus Clippers have given away. I hope to add Ruth, Dimaggio, Maris, Stengel to my collection as well as Pettitte, Wells, Clemens, and Jeter. Then there is the 2009 World Series Champions bobbles. I only have Mark Teixeira right now. This is a set I really want to concentrate on finishing by the end of the year. Getting a better display case for them is also a priority. I've just about run out of room in the three shelf unit they are in now.
Adding more Jets, Devils and Knicks bobbles would be a plus as well.

2-More Yankee Vintage
In an earlier post, I showed off the oldest Yankee cards I have in my Yankees collection. A pair of 1956 Topps cards. As a team collector,I would love nothing more than toadd more vintage to my collection. I know adding cards from Mantle might not happen anytime soon,but I don't see why I can't add others. I always see Ford, Berra, Howard, among others at decent prices. Mybe a well loved Mantle will fall on my lap,who knows. Plus, I'd like to finish my 1971 Topps Yankees team set too.

3-More Yankee autos
Right now, my Yankees autograph collection stands at close to 150 diffrent Yankees on cards, balls, mini helmets, pictures, etc. I'm always looking for diffrent players I don't have in my Yankees collection. I really don't have a must have list,but I have an idea of who I need. I would also like to finish up this large black and white photo of the old Yankee Stadium from the upper deck,with the facade hanging overhead. I have been getting diffrent players to sign it and it looks pretty good. I might try for a few more and then get it matted and framed.
I also would like to start a signed Yankees baseball collection too.
During the course of the year, I will post blogs of the autos I have.

4-Finish Team Sets
I do have holes in my teams sets. I have team sets of Topps Yankees cards going back from the late 60's to the present. Would like to try and finish them.

5-Don't Forget The Others
Although I am concentrating on mainly my Yankees collection, I do have team collections of the Jets, Knicks, Devils and Islanders I don't want to ignore. Also, adding to my Mark Teixeira, Tino Martinez, Martin Brodeur, Mark Sanchez and David Lee PC's as well.

6-Organization Is Key
This is my main goal. I want everything in binders or Top loaders and penny sleeves as soon as possible. Waiting so long to do take care of this was the worst mistake. Now, I find myself digging through boxes, piling up cards and putting them in binders. It's a long process, but it must be done. I would like a final count of what I own soon.I also want to put create a spreadsheet as well. Right now, I have 22 binders of Yankee cards alone. I can honestly see that number grow to 30 by the time I'm done.

7-Improve The Blog
I'm always thinking of ways to improve this blog. One I would really like to do is change the picture on top. I would rather it show off the love I have for bobbles, cards, autos, and mcfarlanes. Also,I would like to find a way to throw Yankees, Jets, Knicks and Devils in it as well.

So, that's the list of New Years Resolutions I have for my hobby. They are goals that I think I can reach within this upcoming year. Will I do all of them, plus the personal ones I have set aside? Well, one of my best friends told me that if I can visualize it and if I have the drive, I can achieve my goals. My motor's running.

What are your goals?

What I Did During The Blizzard

As New York City got hit with a snowstorm the like we haven't seen here in quite sometime, and since my Jets got me PO'ed, I decided to do something to take my mind off it all. I worked on organizing my cards.

It's a goal I have for the New Year. Get all my Yankees cards organized by putting them into their binders. Right now, I have boxes of cards I recieved through trades, purchases or from my team collectors group that I open and put into boxes since I'm a lazy mutt. I have been doing this for months now and I looked at the boxes piling higher and higher and realized I needed to get them put away. And it's not just Yankee cards either. I have Jets, Knicks, Devils and Islanders cards I need to organize too. Since the Yankees cards take up about 75% of my card collection, I decided I would tackle it first.

I decided to go by brand and Topps would be the first one I start with. I had actually started the project about a week and a half ago. I first hit just the Topps base series. I have some cards that go back to the 50's and 60's. Not many, just a couple. Once I organized all of them and put them away, I tackled the Topps subsets. Allan & Ginter, Heritage, Stadium Club, TEK, Stars, 205, 206, etc. All those sets needed to be put away. I started right after the Jets lost their game to the Bears, yet backed up into the playoffs (thank you Washington Redskins), which was around 4:15 EST. I didn't call it a night untill 11:30pm and I still haven't finished. I threw all the doubles and triples into boxes to be sent to my tier 2 Yankees collector and for trades. And there was a lot too. Plus, with A&G and Heritage, I had to make sure I wasn't putting the paralls into the boxes as doubles. Anyone who collects A&G, how do you store your mini's? I just put them into 9 pocket pages along side the regular sized cards.

As much as it is as task to put away all the cards, it is also so much fun to me. I just sit and look over the cards and just soak in the designs, the feel of cardboard (or chrome) in my hands and it just takes me back to when I was a kid, organizing my cards and watching the Yankees game. I can still hear Frank Messer, Phil Rizzuto and Bill White call the game as I look over my cards. As much as I'm into other things like comics and Batman/Spiderman collecting and McFarlanes and bobbleheads, nothing brings me as much joy as when I complete a team set or get a Yankee autographed card I need for the collection. Things may come and go in life, but the one constant I have is my card collecting hobby. Always brings a smile to my face.

The Oldest Cards in My Yankees Collection

As I have been organizing my Yankees collection. I have found some neat cards I completely forgotten I had. Since I am still working on my Topps base sets, I managed to find these two beauties in the Topps box and are the oldest cards I own. Both cards are well loved, but are in pretty good shape for being over 54 years old. Again, my apologies for the terrible pics as my camera is still MIA and I had to use the crummy camera on my blackberry (Me thinks it's time to upgrade to an EVO)

Here is a 1956 Topps card of Yankees 1st baseman Joe Collins. Collins was a member of 6 World Championship teams in his 10 years in the Majors, all with the Yankees. He was a first baseman most of his career, but did play the outfield as well. Collins batted .256 with 86 home runs and 329 RBI's. Collins did hit 4 home runs in his World Series Career, including 2 during the 1955 World Series that saw the Brooklyn Dodgers finally beat the Yankees in 7 games. Collins finished his career on September 29, 1957 going 0-4, with a strikeout, in a 3-2 loss to the Red Sox at Fenway Park. He was traded to the Philadelphia Phillies at the start of the 1958 season, but decided to retire rather than play in Philly. He passed away on August 30th 1989 in Union Township, NJ.

Here's a 1956 Topps card of Jim Konstanty. Konstanty was a relief pitcher who played for the Reds, The Braves, The Phillies, Yankees and Cardinals. He was an important member of the 1950 National League Champion Philadelphia Phillies "Whiz Kids" appearing in a then ML record 74 games, winning 16 and saving 22. He started game one of the 1950 World Series against the Yankees, losing to Vic Raschi 1-0 pitching 8 innings, allowing one run and 4 hits. During the 1950 season, he was named to the NL All Star team and won the 1950 National League MVP award. He was traded to the Yankees during the 1954 season and played 2 seasons in New York. He then pitched for the Cardinals before ending his career with the San Fransisco Seals of the PCL. Konstanty passed away on June 11th, 1956 at the age of 59.

When I came across these cards, I extremely excited as I didn't think I had any that were older than 1962. I did find some cards from the 1959 set, which I will blog about at a later date. To me, the Topps cards from the 50's are some of the most beautiful cards ever produced, with the '55 set being my personal favorite. These two cards, aside from dog ears and relitive age, are in pretty good condition. There are no stains or creases on either card. I have them in top loaders untill I can find pocket sleeves that will fit the cards, as they are larger than most card sets.

Wonder what else I'll find during the organization.....

8/2/2010-The organization continues

So, I'm a week into the card organizing and I have to say, it's more work than I imagined and I'm only working on Topps main sets. It's a bit frustrating, but fun at the same time as I am finding cards I didn't even know I had.

I had decided to start off with just organizing the Topps sets I have. I have cards from these sets that go back to 1956. Mind you, not all these sets are complete, nor do I have cards from every year. But completing these set will be a fun challenge. Only problem I see is that not all these sets will ever be complete. Unless I hit the lottery or find a very generous benefactor, I will not be adding a 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle rookie card to my collection or any of his cards for that matter. Heck, all his other cards would put a serious hurting on my bank account, so unless I find a deal, Mantle's 1950's and 1960's cards will probably not be added to my collection anytime soon. Doesn't mean I can't have a nice collection. Right now, my main focus is on cards released from 1970-present. whenever I can add a nice vintage card, at the right price, I will.

I started looking through all my boxes and pulling out all Topps main set cards. and organizing them in piles by year. After pulling the duplicates, I placed the cards in 9 pocket sleeve pages and placed them in order by year. So far, I have most of the 1970's done. I have cards from the 80's, 90's and new millenium already put in pages, I just have to go through them and make sure there are no inserts or dups. Then I have some 60's cards to organize. I hope to be done with all this within the next week or so.

After, it will be on to the other Topps sets like Allen & Ginter, Heritage, etc. That will take a while. I'm so not looking forward to tackling Upper Deck. at this rate, it will be the start of the 2011 season before I'm done.

Stay tuned....

Finally Started.....

Not my cards, but I just wanted to give you an idea of the project I'm tackling. See, I have been a member of my team collectors group for about 4 years now. when I first started, I kept up to date on putting base cards in their binders, everything else went into top loaders and penny sleeves. Somewhere along the way, I got lazy and when my treasures arrived, I just put them in boxes and told myself I'd put them away, eventually. Well, eventually came this past weekend.

I read a lot of blogs written by card collectors, like Wrigley Wax, Waxaholic, A Cardboard Problem and Emerald City Diamond Gems. All write terrific blogs and show off their treasures. Well, I want to do the same, so yesterday, I started to go through the boxes of cards. I came up with a game plan. Since I knew I wasn't going to be able to do everything in one day, Why not organize by company. Yesterday, I started with my favorite card company, Topps. I searched through a few boxes for Topps base cards. I haven't finished, but look to do so tonight during the Yankees game tonight. As I go along, I'll show off the goodies here and you all can see what I have.

I'm also hoping to catalouge what I have so as I get my cards, I can know right off if it's a duplicate or it's a need. I dont have an excel program, so I will be looking for a free "excel-like" program on line tonight as well.

I am really looking forward to searching through my boxes and seeing what I come up with. I bet I have some intresting stuff.

Told You I Had A Lot.....

See that picture above? Remember what I said last week about having some boxes of cards to look through? Say hello to my little friend...

2 monster boxes form the bottom with various size boxes creeping toward the heavens. All filled to capacity with Yankee cards. I guess I have a few doubles and triples in there. I'm gonna have some fun going through them and putting them in their binders, but I also know it's gonna take a while to finish. Maybe there are some cool inserts in there I forgot I had. Gonna start tonight during the Hockey and Basketball games. My game planis to go but makers. Tonight I will start with Topps cards only. I'll let you know if Ifind anything sweet.

Memorial Day weekend

Just want to take time to wish everyone a happy memorial day weekend, especially those brave men and women who have fought for our country. Please say a special prayer for those who have given us the ultimate sacrifice and lost their lives so that we can live freely in the greatest country in the world.

I have quite a daunting task for the up coming weekend. I wish to finally get all my Yankees cards put into their collective binders. I have thousands upon thousands of Yankees baseball cards sitting in boxes. I have been lazy long enough and will devote my weekend to putting them in their collective binders. It's quite a task, but one I know I'll have alot of fun doing.

I also want to put up pics of my recent pick ups. My internet at home has been giving me problems, yet again. I am posting this from work, so I cant load up any pictures. Please stay tuned. I hope to get the situation at home finalized by Friday.

First Post

Hi everyone,

This is my first post here on blogger. Allow me to tell you all a little about myself.

My name is Mike. I was born, raised and still residing in The Bronx. I am a die hard Yankees, Jets, Knicks and Devils fan. I collect sports cards, autographs, McFarlanes, memorbilia and anything else that has to do with my favorite teams. I am part of a group of people that collect cards of our favorite baseball teams. We started out when the Beckett message boards used to be fun. We break packs and boxes and send cards of teams to the collectors and vice versa. It's a fun, tight knit group. Because of their generosity, my Yankees cards number somewhere over 10,000.

I wanted to have a place to blog about what I get from the group, through trades, autos through the mail or in person or random purchases I may make. So here I will post what I get and post pictures as well. I hope to make friends through this community that last a long time and possibly add to my collection. Please always feel free to comment on what you read here. I look forward to posting and reading what you all have to add.

TTFN, Ta ta for now.

Mike